Why you don't need to be afraid of storms
by Candle-tender Yena
Summary: Poseidon follows his instincts and wanders down to New York, only to find a very young Percy terrified of a thunderstorm. A strong parental urge makes him teaching his son why you don't need to be afraid of the storms. One-shot. Set before PJatO series. Hilarity ensues. All for fun.


**A/N: One-shot. Humor. The idea was inspired by my little sister, and so I typed it out. Was rather enjoying to do this. **

**Enjoy reading~~. XD**

* * *

Poseidon sat in the throne at Olympus, tapping a finger on the hand rest, feeling utterly bored.

Far in a distance, he could hear the handiwork of Zeus – thunderstorms – being operated on earth below. He sighed. The poor mortals will have to suffer another drastic hail.

Poseidon wondered why on earth did he and Zeus shared the storms. Sure, Poseidon was given the title and power as the "Storm God"; but in reality, Zeus also shared very similar powers in terms of storms, so when Poseidon wasn't eager to pepper the mortal world with hails, Zeus would do it. Zeus's storms were formed from storm clouds; all the more easier and wider for the king to perform it.

Poseidon also didn't know why did Zeus add the lightning and thunder to his collection of storms. They were blinding and deafening, a terrible addition to the mighty hails and winds. Poseidon didn't need those because he had enough hail and winds to render everything useless, especially those on the sea. Apparently Zeus needed lightning and thunder – maybe he _did_ need it in order to render everything in the skies useless. Poseidon could imagine all the venti and Stymphilian birds flying in his lightning-and-thunder-less storms with ease. With the two elements, Zeus had controls of his skies better.

Another clap of thunder. Poseidon sighed. He was downright bored. But he had pressing matters to brood on.

He bent forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and began to drift into his thoughts.

But suddenly, a small tugging at his heart made Poseidon stopped musing.

He looked around the room, but saw no one. It wasn't surprising; the throne room was rarely occupied by multiple gods in the same time, since the gods often fought and therefore have developed the tendency to avoid each other. And usually, when one god appeared, it was only to sit on his/her throne to regain confidence, or sort out their mind in worrying matters – all related to power issues.

It was strange, the tugging in his heart. It was worrying, but quite small. Yet it was one that Poseidon couldn't ignore easily.

From a far distance, he heard the thunder clap. To his utmost surprise, one tug became harder at that. Poseidon blinked.

Slowly, as if the tugging had a string attached to it, Poseidon felt the presence of a trail leading him to the other end of the string. Poseidon got up transfixed, following his instincts that sensed the trail that led to the other end of the string.

He slowly left the throne room…

…left Olympus's grounds…

…and wandered down into the stormy mortal world below.

* * *

When he was out of his hypnosis enough to get his bearings, Poseidon found himself standing in front of an apartment. New York was way past midnight by then (trust Zeus's menace to torment the mortals' sleep with a stormy night), so the streets were empty and everywhere was nothing but darkness. Even the lights from convenience stores a few blocks down weren't enough to light the surroundings, since the heavy raindrops diluted the brightness. The only sufficient light source was the lightning, and Poseidon was hoping the wretched creation didn't appear just yet. He looked up to the apartment.

The tugging in his heart did not end there, and instead beckoned the sea god to enter the building. Poseidon went in –

Only, he didn't just walk into the apartment; he diffused into it.

Meaning to say, as a god had powers to simply appear in a desired place, Poseidon did just exactly that – to shorten the work, time and trouble. When he materialized well enough, he was surprised to find himself in a rather…smelly, bedroom. Except the actual stench must have belonged to territories way beyond the bedroom door, and upon one glance Poseidon realized the room must have belonged to a very young child. A few moments of studying helped deduced that the owner of the room was a young boy, as the place lacked a few shiny trinkets girls would like, and was mostly blue colour instead of girlish pink; a shark, dolphin and starfish was hung to the ceiling as accessories (Poseidon was sure small girls didn't like sharks, sadly – they didn't know zebra sharks are relatively gentle creatures) and the boy's belongings were mostly shabby and moderate, not in the least flashy.

But Poseidon didn't come here to inspect possessions.

He looked around, and caught sight of the small trembling bundle under the bedcovers.

He frowned.

Even before he approached the boy and pulled the covers away, Poseidon realized who the boy under it was, and was ashamed for not fully realizing it earlier. How couldn't he?

When he pulled the covers away gently, it revealed a very frightened four-year-old Percy Jackson.

His son.

Poseidon smiled. "Hey, sonny."

His heart nearly broke at the tear-streamed face. And the near-breaking whisper – which he suspected didn't dare to be any louder out of fear of something else – "Who…who are you?" Percy whimpered.

Poseidon smiled. He couldn't possibly answer that, could he? "Why are you frightened?" he asked.

Percy sniffled, wiping snot from his nose. Poseidon looked around the room and found the tissue box. He pulled one out and pressed it to Percy's nose. When the boy looked at him surprised, he nodded his head to instruct him to blow. The boy hesitated, then warily did so – blowing very, very softly. It didn't do any good to the remaining ninety-percent of snot in his nose. Poseidon's suspicions about Percy fearing something else grew.

"Son, if you don't blow your nose, it's not good for you," the sea god said, "Blow harder. It's not to say your parents can hear in this loud storm."

And that's totally true; a storm with this amount of hail was deafening even to a god's ears, Percy's toddler-scaled hard blows would hardly be heard out of the room either.

The boy looked up to him fearfully. "Really?"

Poseidon winked. "Trust me."

Percy mustered his courage and blew hard – a few times, with the coaxing from Poseidon. Nobody knocked the door down.

Percy relaxed.

"Now, why were you hiding under the blankets like that, boy?" Poseidon asked.

But then a blinding flash, the boy stiffened, and when they realized it a terrifyingly loud thunder struck the earth.

Even Poseidon had to cover his ears at that (he wasn't fazed by thunder; but it did bring him minor discomfort to his ears). When he recovered though, he cursed himself for not using his hands for the boy when he saw Percy had hidden in the covers again – this time, a lot tighter a ball and trembling.

Poseidon guessed. "Son?"

He shook the bundle gently. Just as he was wondering if doing so didn't help matters but instead terrified the boy more, Percy peeked from under with terror-stricken eyes. "Hm?"

"Are you afraid of thunder?"

Percy shifted in his covers. Poseidon waited patiently. The boy eventually crawled out.

"Uh-huh." His voice sounded so small.

Poseidon fought the urge to hug the boy. "Do you want to go to mommy?"

Usually he never asked such, but Percy was a son, a child that he'd missed having for decades. He was eager to cherish him.

Percy shook his head. "No."

At the prompting silence, four-year-old Percy elaborated: "Smel – Gab – my stepfather's in there. I don't want to."

It took a few rationalizing moments for Poseidon to not turn the man a few rooms away into sea-salt, if only to let his son have his mother back again. He tried thinking of other methods, see if he could sneak little Percy into his mother's arms – or even call Sally to her son's room bravado – but most ideas came out as vicious vengeance plans against the mortal man, so Poseidon gave up.

He absent-mindedly caressed Percy's hair during his broodings. Percy looked up to him, curious.

"Mister?"

Poseidon looked down (and was startled to find his hand on the boy's head).

"Who are you? Why are you in my room?" Percy asked. Bravely. Curiously.

Poseidon stilled. He hadn't thought of a feasible reason yet. He eventually answered, "I'm...a guardian. Your guardian. I'm here because I could feel you scared."

"Guardian?" Percy cocked his head inquisitively.

"Yes, son. A guardian helps you out, so I...came here, to…help."

The god wished he had a better brain to create a better excuse.

Percy didn't seem to mind, though. Instead he lightened up and asked, "Then, then, can you make them go away?"

Poseidon raised his eyebrows. "Them?"

Percy pointed a small finger to the window. "The storms. They scared me."

_Oh?_ "You were scared of storms?"

Percy shrank back into his protective covers. "They're loud. And flashy. And wet. Very wet."

Poseidon nodded. "Yes, they are indeed." He noted to visit Zeus later and demand that particular god's thunderstorms to stop. It wouldn't do well for Percy to dislike storms when Poseidon (his father) was the god of such phenomena. Or wait, was Poseidon to blame since he was doing most of the job?

He hoped not.

Percy elaborated his statement. "I can't see when I'm out there. Everything's useless."

Poseidon laughed softly, ruffling his hair and all worrying thoughts flying out of the window. How heartening it was to know that his son was perceptible in his senses at such a young age!

"Yes, indeed, a storm makes one useless outside," he chuckled. "But that's why we all stay indoors, right? We rest when a storm comes."

Percy scrunched his eyebrows. Poseidon patted the boy's bed.

"How about you try lying down and I'll tell you a bedtime story."

Percy lit up. "Really? You'll do that?" he asked, excited.

"Sure!" Poseidon smiled.

Percy promptly adjusted himself to lie in the right position. Poseidon sat close to the boy, placing a hand on the boy's body when he saw the slightly terrified look still in his son's eyes.

The storm outside still raged. Poseidon eyed the droplets hammering the (only) window. He was confident that the hail was deafening enough to drown his and Percy's voice from being heard.

Percy stirred under his hand.

"What is the story about?" Percy asked timidly from under his covers. _Seriously, his son needed to speak up a little louder if Poseidon were to hear him!_

"It's an interesting story, really, about why the lightning and thunder aren't scary," the sea god said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Percy's eyes widened. "Why's that?"

Poseidon coughed. "Say, son. Do you know about Greek myths?"

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. "What's that?"

_Aah._ He thought so. "It's…story characters, from Greece."

"…Okay."

"Now here are two famous characters, a couple. Husband and wife."

Percy nodded.

"The husband was called Zeus. He was the god of the skies, and king of a place in heaven called Oympus."

"Uh-huh."

"Mind you, you don't need to remember the details too much. Just the story," Poseidon said quickly, fearing that whatever excessive information he was about to give his son only increased his son's exposure to danger.

"Okay."

…He wasn't exactly reassured by that. But no matter.

Poseidon took a deep breath, and continued. "So Zeus was the king of Olympus. His wife, Hera, was so then called the queen of Olympus."

"Was she pretty?"

Poseidon halted, thinking very carefully then. Since it wouldn't do any good for him to degrade Hera (all for himself and Percy and for currently-innocent Hera; plus, it wasn't Hera that Poseidon wanted to wreck vengeance on now), he safely answered: "Of course she is. She's queen, isn't she?"

"Oh. Right."

"So Zeus and Hera were king and queen of Olympus. They ruled the heavens – which mean they also ruled the skies.

"Now there was only one problem they had, and that was because Zeus was unfaithful to his wife."

"What's that?"

Poseidon winced. Percy might not understand what being unfaithful or cheating on your wife meant.

"…It means cheating on your wife…"

"Oh, okay," Percy nodded in understanding.

Poseidon's eyes widen. "You understand?"

"Yeah. It means a guy shouldn't another girl when he has a wife, and a girl shouldn't be dating another guy when she has a husband. Or boyfriend, girlfriend," Percy said. "Mom said that was important for a couple. They must always be together, and nobody should disturb that. She said a good person wouldn't cheat on his partner by being with another person. Whoever did that is the bad guy."

To say that it was extraordinary for a four-year-old Percy managing to define it in perfect sense was an understatement. Poseidon was going to have to worry about the intentions behind Sally's teachings another day.

"So okay, Zeus was a bad guy," he said with a whoosh, "Zeus was unfaithful - means he cheated – his wife."

Percy nodded solemnly. Suddenly a flash of lightning and thunder, Percy yelped and hidden into the covers.

Poseidon tried coaxing his son out, all the time eying the window trying to sense and see if Zeus was actually listening to the conversation. Sensing none of the like, the sea god continued.

"Now, Zeus was bad to his wife, and Hera got mad," he said, charming his son out of the covers and fear with the story, "He would travel down to the world of humans, and date a beautiful girl there. Every time he does that, Hera waits at home for her bad husband.

"Beside her was a glass full of light – do you know what that is?"

Percy shook his head.

"It's lightning."

Percy's eyes widened. Now everything from that point was all made-up, but Poseidon didn't worry; besides, he'd like to think he did Hera a favour by appointing her as the goddess of her husband's treasured lightning.

"Lightning is pretty dangerous; it can kill humans like us. But Zeus and Hera are gods, and gods are very powerful. A mere lightning couldn't kill them. But lightning is really, really pain."

"Like?"

Poseidon was surprised at that question. He had to think for a while. Truth to be told, he's never been hit by lightning before (maybe a few times when he squabbled with Zeus when they were younger, but that was aeons ago) so he couldn't really describe the feeling.

Unless he multiplied the small electric shocks Zeus emitted to the air when he was furious…

"You know that shaky feeling you get after you fall to the floor on your butt?"

"Uh-huh."

"It's something like that. Except it's a hundred times powerful. And your skin feels like you've been pricked by a thousand needles."

"Eeyurgh!" Percy shuddered.

Poseidon grinned. "Yes, so it hurts. Now, everybody says lightning is created by Zeus, you see, as his weapons against monsters."

"Whoaa."

"But he uses it mostly for storms like these too."

Percy immediately lost all awe. As if on cue, another thunder sounded – only, it was very soft.

"But that's what everybody thinks." Poseidon said as he tried to keep his son from hiding again, "They also think that lightning have a sound called thunder."

"I hate those the most," Percy pouted behind the covers.

"Indeed, thunder is the most terrifying."

"But what does that have to do with Zeus and Hera?"

Poseidon grinned. "I'll tell you a big secret. People think Zeus is the one who throws lightning; but in truth, it's not really Zeus – it's actually Hera, his wife.

"Hera was always furious at her husband for cheating on her, that she'd wait for him to come home and strike him with a lightning!"

Percy's mouth was in a small adorable 'o', eyes wide.

"And, son, did you notice that thunder doesn't sound the same time you see lightning?"

Percy thought for a while. "Uh-huh. But sometimes they do."

"Ah, yes. Now, do you know you know why the thunder roars after you see the lightning?"

Percy shook his head.

"I'll tell you why. Zeus cheated on his wife and came home thinking Hera doesn't know. So when Hera suddenly attacked him, Zeus had a huge shock! The late thunder is actually Zeus's yells when he's surprised at the lightning zooming into his face!"

Percy was grinning now. Poseidon mirrored that grin. He decided to add a little more hilarity to his plain-tasted story.

"Now here's one scene of their fight," Poseidon said. "One night after dating another woman, Zeus comes back home, thinking that maybe this time, Hera doesn't know."

"She doesn't?"

"Hera always knows," Poseidon snorted, "Now Zeus was about to enter his home – no lights were on – but he goes in slowly. First, he opens the door veeerrrrry slowly."

Percy nodded enthusiastically. Poseidon suddenly felt like doing actions to spice things up, like pantomiming.

The hails showed no sign of weakening.

"Zeus opens the door small, see, just enough to fit his head. Then, he pops his head in, looks inside the house."

Poseidon did those exact movements – hands holding on an imaginary doorknob, sticking his head between an imaginary space – and earned a giggle from Percy.

"He looks around," said Poseidon, turning his head here and there, "sees no one. Yahoo! Zeus thinks he's safe."

"Ooh, ooh! I know what happened!" Percy whispered excitedly.

"Patience, son. Anything can happen," Poseidon chuckled. But his resolve soon broke when he saw a slight dampened look in Percy.

He decided to let the boy have a little fun. "Alright. What's your guess?" he asked the boy.

Percy lit up. "Hera's waiting for him in the room!" he whispered loudly.

"Nope, not quite." Poseidon shook his head.

Percy looked crestfallen. "No?"

"Nope – Hera's a smart one, see? She doesn't want to waste another second to punish Zeus.

"So Zeus enters the house. He locks the door CLICK! – Now, Zeus walks into the living room, getting further from the door."

Percy gulped.

"Now, the door is Zeus's only escape outside. But the door's too far away now; the bad man can't escape anymore. So Hera is IN THAT ROOM! –" Poseidon did a little pounce; clawing his fingers and letting them wriggle intimidatingly in front of Percy's face. The boy shrieked in delight.

There was another flash of lightning accompanied with a relatively loud thunder; Poseidon didn't sense Zeus's attention behind this. Oddly, though his fear was still intact, Percy was also starting to develop a small wonder as he stared at the phenomena outside his window.

"Aha! The lightning shines! – and Hera's there looking absolutely furious! Terrifying! She was in there, all the while behind the curtains! –" Poseidon hid behind an imaginary curtain, "Waiting for her husband to come closer, further from the door.

"Hera jumps out! Zeus jumps in a fright!" Poseidon did a little bounce, "and in Hera's hand is the lightning, crackling with life and energy to strike!"

Percy's grinning wider. Poseidon mirrored that too.

"Hera is angry. She says: 'Zeus, my husband! How dare you date another woman again today!'

"'No, my wife Hera!' Zeus cried, 'I did not date anybody! I only listened to a woman's worries!'"

Poseidon waited for a while for Percy to catch up.

"Hera doesn't believe Zeus. 'Don't lie, you old fool! I know you have because I've seen you and that woman together! Others told me you were holding hands!'

"'They are mistaken, my dove! I would never hold another woman's hands! I will cut it out before I do!'"

"Ouch! Is he going to?" Percy asked.

"Zeus said that to show his wife he was innocent. Aha! But then Hera said, 'Really? Then tell me, my dear, the worries of that woman! I can help since we're both woman, you know!'

"Zeus is stuck, for he couldn't find a suitable answer for that. So he makes one up and said, 'She worries for her power, my dove, about her position. She is but a small goddess, so small and powerless. She also has children to worry and land to look after; she has neighbours to be aware and monsters to look out for.'

"'Oh, my. What a pitiful goddess! So many problems! I must seek her out and help! – Tell me, dear husband, what was her name? And tell me how she looked like so I can find her easily.'

"Now Zeus is panicked, because that was a lie; there's no goddess in Olympus who's troubled. He stutters: 'O-o-o-oh dear! I forgot her name! And apparently I forgot what she looked like too!'

"'Aha! You lied! You didn't meet a goddess! You met a human woman, who you dare not describe!' Hera shrieks and threw the first lightning - that's the first lightning you see before the storm."

"Wow." Percy looked up to the sky through the ceiling.

"Zeus yells – now that's the thunder. Hera starts stomping her foot in a rage. 'Come back here, you scoundrel! I'll zap you!'

"'Wait, my dear! You are mistaken!' Zeus yelps and ducks another lightning. It whooshes past his head!" Poseidon made a 'WHOOSH' sound while he aeroplane-d his hand, ducking the hand from hitting him.

Percy's laughing now. Still suppressed, but loud enough and bright. Poseidon decided to do himself a little favour, and stirred up some more hail of his own (he is a god of storm and water, yes?) so it would reassure his son that he wouldn't be found out.

"Zeus fell onto the floor on his butt! 'Wait! My lovely wife, it's not what you think!' Zeus pleads.

"Hear stomps her foot – now this shook the clouds and the water starts to leak from the clouds. You know what's that, right?"

"Rain!" the four-year-old answered proudly.

"Yes, rain! But the two great gods didn't know what they were doing to the small earth; Hera is still angry and stomps her foot, she grabs a new lightning from the glass!" Poseidon made a grab in thin air. "'No amount of pleading will save you, Zeus, because I've seen and your words don't make me happy! You're going to pay!'"

Percy is still laughing, but concern was written all over his face. "…Then, what makes Hera happy again?"

His son's kindness stunned even his father; Poseidon smiled. "Unfortunately, she's so angry that unless she punishes Zeus enough, she won't be happy."

Percy nodded in deep understanding. It was adorable.

"So Hera kept throwing lightning; and Zeus kept yelling his head off." Poseidon made his face snarl horribly at a space (that wasn't at Percy) with a hand clenched in air, depicting Hera grabbing a lightning; then he faced the opposite with his mouth opened into a fearful 'O' with hands before his head, depicting Zeus trying to shield himself from the attack. "Zeus ran around the house – he couldn't escape out of the door because lightning struck him worst then – and his wife kept chasing after him. Boom! Boom! Boom! Their heavy footsteps shook the clouds and more rain poured. Whoosh! Crackle! YELL! The lightning and thunder became a harmony.

"'COME BACK HERE YOU SCOUNDREL!'

"'AHHH!' The fight goes on and on. Poor Zeus has to run around the house all night to flee!"

"Ooh, ooh, did it hit him?"

Poseidon grinned, rubbing his chin. "Hmm, I'm not sure. Usually nobody dares to go near that place when they're having a fight like that, so we don't know. Tell you what, maybe I'll go and check on them and see, so you go back and sleep, okay?"

Percy's eyes widened. "You can do that?"

"Hm?"

"You can check on Zeus and Hera?" Percy asked. Poseidon nearly smacked himself. He'd slipped his tongue.

But just when the sea god was about to come up with some lame excuse/correction of his own, Percy spoke up again.

"But…" Little Percy peeked at the window, the wild storm raging outside, "They're so furious right now. If you go, wouldn't you get hurt instead?"

Poseidon found it really, really hard to not hug his son right there. Such a good heart! So innocent! So believing! The sea god pretended to be deep in thought – while in reality, he was fighting the parental urge to coddle his son.

On another note, it never ceased to surprise the god how mortal four-year-olds could believe such stories. Or the fact that his son believed that this…man (stranger) would be able to visit a Greek god.

"I'm going to be fine," he eventually answered, ruffling the boy's head affectionately, "Like I said, nobody goes in when they're fighting. So I'll visit them sometime soon when the rain's gone."

Percy nodded. "Hope Hera's happy then."

Poseidon nodded solemnly. "Of course," he said, and stared at the window for a while. "…Now, how about you try to go and sleep, huh? Or you won't be able to wake up when your mother calls you, and then she'll suspect something's wrong."

Percy's eyes widened.

"And," Poseidon added with a wink, "Hera's anger is only directed to her husband, so the lightning will never attack you. There's nothing to be afraid of the storm."

Percy shrank back a little. "But the roars are scary."

It was amusing how Percy now started calling the thunders 'roars'. "The louder it is, it means the louder Zeus is yelling – which also means he's super-scared more too."

The fear still remained, but Percy's eyes now held another new shine in them: humour.

"Now be a good boy and try going to sleep, okay?"

"Okay!"

Poseidon tucked his little son into bed and – both quite forgetting that he wasn't supposed to and not being able to suppress the urge to – he kissed the boy on the forehead. Percy didn't notice the oddness and was promptly asleep. After sandwich-ing his head between the pillows, that is.

Poseidon grinned. He'd done one remarkably proud dad's good job today.

"You don't need to be afraid of the storms."

* * *

Twelve over years later, whenever Percy wakes up to the sound of thunderstorms – though he knew better and since Greek gods exists so he shouldn't be insulting them – he couldn't help but mutter: "Gosh, Zeus and Hera, take your fight another time! Or better still: be nice to each other. Or easier still: stop cheating on Hera, Zeus!"

* * *

-Extra-

In spirit of his relatively good mood, Poseidon paid Zeus a visit once he got back to Olympus and retold his creation to the sky god. Zeus was absolutely nuts when he knew how Poseidon characterized him as to his son by the end of the story-telling.

"Every thunderstorm I make is a 'fight with me and Hera over me cheating on her'!?" the god of the sky yelled indignantly, "_I_ make thunderstorms, you sea-gherkin!"

"Yes, only the thunderstorms – otherwise most of the other non-thunderous ones are mine," Poseidon said, swirling his wine in the glass.

"And you dared to descent to the mortal world and visit your son too – when it was strictly forbidden to do so! You broke a considerable number of oaths and rules there, Poseidon!"

Poseidon chose to ignore that reminder. Rather half-heartedly, that is (he still worries about himself and Percy's safety).

Zeus breathed heavily, his nostrils flaring like a dragon about to blow fire, while he tried controlling himself from yelling obscenities down the orchard they were sitting in and out all over Olympus. If he did that, he couldn't guarantee the heavens would be storm-free either.

Then a realization struck him.

When Poseidon looked up from his wine glass sensing the oddity, he was confronted with a menacingly grinning Zeus. "Yes?" the sea god asked.

"You are the storm god," Zeus said pointing a finger at his brother, "So when your son says he fears of storms, it isn't just mine that he fears of but yours as well."

Poseidon could see that Zeus was just worked up at being made the laughing stock, so it was considered an understatement to say that Poseidon felt tremendous pity upon hearing the low-blow revenge.

"Yes, brother – but it does not change the fact that he (Percy) now believes that all storms are a product of you and Hera's quarrels."

Zeus glowered. "You – "

"Zeus!"

The two male gods froze that their spots. Both had paled considerably.

Hera came strolling into their pergola, looking as graceful and stirringly beautiful as the queen of Olympus. She cast them a questioning look. "What is your banter about this time?"

"Nothing, dear!" Zeus muttered quickly and sat down, having leapt from his side of the bench at the outburst then. He gingerly sipped his glass of wine.

Poseidon took a sip too.

Hera watched them for a while before taking a seat herself, just beside Zeus. To Zeus, he nearly jumped right out of his skin since having his wife beside him at the current topic wasn't helpful; to Poseidon, his heart nearly leapt from his throat in fear upon knowing that both husband and wife were together now.

Hera smiled queen-ly. "Would you mind sharing the story for me, Poseidon?"

And usually when the queen's in her graceful obstinate mood like that, nobody on Olympus could change her mind.

Zeus glared at Poseidon and mouthed: "_I will get revenge, you wait and see!_"

* * *

"You don't have to be afraid of earthquakes, because they're actually Poseidon's snores while he sleeps." Zeus said solemnly as he sat beside his daughter on a log slightly far from the Hunter's camping zone, each drinking a mug of coffee with the never-aging daughter sipping the drink in stupefied bewilderment.

Though Thalia's too old for this and she usually isn't on good terms with her father, she decides that just for this once she'll let her father rant on his beliefs – because she has a feeling that Zeus's been holding onto a certain grudge for too long, and thus has a serious urge to relieve it.

_In reality, it's been twelve over years for Zeus to get this payback; and though he knows Thalia's a little too old for this, he's that desperate to let a family member hear his woes – and to have a chance to dote silly on his child like how Poseidon has dared to do ages ago._

* * *

The joke, however, doesn't stop there as word of the twelve-years-forgotten banter between Olympus's strongest spread across the godly worlds like flame on oil, or lightning over the world. Rumours spread fast, no matter how insignificant – and because it was insignificant that usually people hated it for being the hot topic of bored gossipers.

Nico peeked up to his father from where he squatted on the floor, half-curious as to what the lord of the Underworld might say if he ever (ever) followed the trending joke. That particular incident has managed to weave its way to the dead-serious (pun intended) no-joke un-laughable Underworld anyways. It was also hard for the boy to judge what Hades would do given his 24/7 steely expression; harder even as they were standing on the plateau from the palace watching the Fields of Asphodel.

Hades looked back down to him – which startles Nico – then opened his mouth:

"You don't have to be afraid of the 'end of the world', because when that happens both the sky and sea are warring, and we of the Underworld are the only ones who prevail."


End file.
